Broadcom's New Chip Integrates Wi-Fi, Bluetooth & FM for Mobile Devices
December 9, 2008 12:31 PM | Technology | Comments (0)
Broadcom Corporation today announced the availability of its newest wireless combination chip that enables mobile phones to support more media and data applications without impacting size or battery life. |
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To serve this growing market, Broadcom recently announced its plans to introduce a new combination chip every 60 days over the coming months. A variety of products based on the Broadcom BCM4325, the industry's first Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/FM chip, are already on store shelves, and devices based on the Broadcom BCM2049 Bluetooth/FM chip are currently nearing production. Now the newest member of this award-winning combo family, the BCM4329, adds the most advanced Wi-Fi technology and FM transmit capabilities to enable even more powerful applications in smaller devices.
As mobile phones become more media-centric - with cameras, full-featured browsers and enhanced audio capabilities - many consumers want to share photos, videos, music and data between their portable devices and other electronics such as TVs, PCs, printers, remote speakers, headsets and car stereos. These applications can benefit from the new 802.11n standard, which offers higher throughput, more robust connections and much greater coverage than previous Wi-Fi technologies.
Broadcom continues to raise the bar for mobile connectivity by delivering one of the industry's first solutions to offer 802.11n for mobile devices. It provides up to 50 Megabits per second (Mbps) of actual wireless throughput, allowing large file transfers to happen more quickly while consuming less total power. In addition, the BCM4329 employs space time block coding (STBC), an 802.11n feature that enables a mobile device to maintain a connection with an access point anywhere within an expanded coverage area.
The BCM4329 includes both FM transmit and receive capabilities. FM transmit enables consumers to stream music directly from a personal media players (PMPs) or mobile phone to car stereos or home theater systems without having to purchase special adapters or use bulky cables. FM receive is already a popular feature that enables consumers to obtain real-time traffic information as well as listen to music, news and sports broadcasts on their mobile phones.
The BCM4329 also integrates Bluetooth, which is already a ubiquitous feature in mobile phones and PMPs, enabling hands-free communications with wireless headsets, cordless data synchronization and stereo music streaming to headphones and speakers. Since Bluetooth and Wi-Fi operate in the same 2.4 GHz band, both the Broadcom BCM4325 and BCM4329 combination chips use innovative co-existence algorithms and a shared antenna system to minimize interference and provide even better performance than products that use separate Bluetooth and Wi-Fi solutions.
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